Aramid polymers (also termed "aromatic polyamides") have been found to have particular utility as high performance fibers due to their ability to be highly drawn or oriented and the ability of the materials to develop liquid crystalline phases and subsequent high stiffness and strength. On the other hand, these materials are difficult to process into either films or fibers due to lower than desired solubility characteristics. Among the various strategies for generally lowering the melting point of stiff-chain macromolecules may be listed the following: (1) insertion of flexible comonomer units ("spacers") like n-alkylene chains; (2) inclusion of bent units of different size; and (3) appending of flexible side chains onto the stiff main chains (see Angewandte Chemie, International Edition in English, Vol. 28, No. 3 (March 1989), pp. 253-267).